UK agrees to share suspects’ DNA with EU crime-fighting system – The Guardian

The UK government has dropped its opposition to sharing criminal suspects DNA data with EU law enforcement bodies, in a potential olive branch ahead of further talks on post-Brexit security.

The U-turn was announced by the Home Office minister James Brokenshire in a statement to parliament on Monday, the day of an EU deadline for the government to reveal whether it intended to comply with European law.

The decision is separate from negotiations on a future relationship with the EU, but could improve the mood of tense talks as the UK seeks a security deal that includes permanent exchange of DNA, fingerprint and other data.

Under the former home secretary Theresa May, the UK opted into an EU crime-fighting system in 2015, in which member states exchange biometric data. In June 2019 the government began sharing DNA data of convicted criminals, but refused to share criminal suspects DNA.

That exception has now been reversed. It is the governments intention to begin exchanging suspects data held in England, Wales and Northern Ireland with connected EU member states through Prm, Brokenshire said, a reference to the 2005 agreement named after the small German town where EU countries first agreed to exchange fingerprints, DNA and car number plates of criminals and suspects.

Brokenshire said consultation would continue with the Scottish government, as policing is a devolved issue.

The DNA exchange system enables British police to check the genetic code of EU criminals and suspects in 15 minutes, compared with 143 days through the Interpol process, the Home Office said in 2016. Interpol said its DNA database now has an automatic response time of 15 minutes.

Civil liberties campaigners and some MPs had been concerned that safeguards on criminal suspects data were insufficient. Brokenshire said the government was satisfied with EU processes as extra safeguards had been put in place since 2015, including an independent oversight board and extra checks when minors were involved.

Ensuring continued adherence to the UKs scientific standards means there is a one in a billion chance that a UK DNA sample would be falsely matched with an overseas criminal investigation, he told parliament.

The UKs current participation in EU police data sharing ends on 31 December when the Brexit transition period expires. The EU has previously warned that opposition to sharing criminal suspects DNA would be an obstacle to a future deal.

The government has said that since joining the DNA exchange system last July, about 12,000 hits related to UK investigations had come from EU member states, citing progress into an unsolved sexual assault case in Glasgow in 2012. A hit is an anonymised yes/no result of a DNA match. If there is a positive result, police forces can request personal information, such as name and date of birth. The UK has provided EU law enforcement officials with 41,000 hits.

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UK agrees to share suspects' DNA with EU crime-fighting system - The Guardian